The petition continues, "As outsiders, we are unsafe and uncertain in a World where we all need to work together to grow".

They were at pains to stress the fact that they were not like the politicians who dominate the yes camp, writing, "we have different opinions on most political questions and we vote for different parties. But on this we are agreed. We think there will be a yes vote on 14 September".

People trust non-politicians

The yes camp can now add celebrities to the groups of big business supporters, the majority of politicians and most of the press to their campaign, which seems to gain momentum every day.

But this is an important shift in the tone of the campaign because people tend to trust celebrities more than politicians.

The Home Minister, Per Nuder welcomed the new development. In an interview with the EUobserver he said, "the public listen more carefully to people they see in normal situations".

A survey of people in Uppsala, Sweden's fourth largest city, seemed to confirm this view. One politics student from Uppsala university, Sweden's largest said, "people don't trust politicians but they do listen to people they see on TV".

The increasing momentum of the yes camp is being reflected in the polls. With only nine days to go, a new poll for Sifo has the yes side on 41 percent (up 7 on last week), and the no side on 47 percent (down 1 point). Ten percent of voters are still undecided.

Mr Nuder said he distrusted the polls saying, "from the beginning, I do not think the polls have shown the reality". But he added that the last week would see a determined push by the yes camp and predicted, "you will see a tremendous shift in public opinion in the last week".